Improvement in construction-trains for railways



[91.1 HUGH BAINES..

Improvement in Construction Trains for Railways. N0; 8,667. Patented.Aug. 29, 1871.

-amclunnn ncn UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGH BAINES, or TORONTO, CANADA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION-TRAINS FOR RAILWAYS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGH BAINES, engineer, of the city of Toronto, inthe county of York, Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada, haveinvented certain Improvements in the Art of Constructing Railroads, ofwhich the following is a specification My invention consists in thearrangement and manipulation of rolling-stock and machinery for thepurpose of bringing forward and distributing the ties, rails, &c.,required in the construction of railroads, whereby they may beeconomically and expeditiously constructed with a minimum amount ofmanual labor.

Figure 1, side view of construction'train Fig. 2, tie with slots a; Fig.3, ordinary tie; Fig. -11, showing manner of holding the joints; Fig. 5,profile and plan of roadway.

In constructing or building railroads it is customary to bring forwardthe material required and to distribute the ties, &c., by carts drawn byoxen or horses, the loading being, of course, performed by manual labor.The rails are distributed by the same means, and, as they are the lastto be put down, no advantage can be taken of them for bringing forwardmaterial, except when the road is finished, when they are used forbringing forward gravel, 820., for supplementary grading.

In the system which I have adopted, and which I now propose to secure byLetters Patent, I have, to a certain extent, reversed the order ofthings, and by it I am enabled to utilize the rails and make use of themfrom the first. As my invention consists chiefly in the system, and asthe machinery used for the purpose of carrying it out is in itself by nomeans new, I have expended no time in the preparation of drawings forthe purpose of exhibiting the detail construction of the same, but inthe drawing I have merely shown outlines sufficient for illustrating thedescription of the same, which I will now proceed to give.

I make a number of ties, A, shaped somewhat as shown in detail, Fig. 2,the two cross-slots, a a, being cut at the gauge of the railroad aboutto be built. A temporary track somewhat longer than is required tosupport the construction-train is formed by laying enough ties on theground at the point where the road is to be commenced and placing in theslots a a, the rails wedging them somewhat, as shown in Fig. 2. It isscarcely necessary to remark that the ties or sleepers secured in thismanner to the rails can be laid with great rapidity and removed equallyas fast. Fig. 1 represents roughly the outlines of what I will term theconstructiontrain. It consists of two or more trucks or fiat cars, asshown, drawn by a locomotive. To the frame of this locomotive is firmlysecured a double crane, B. The hoisting machinery pertaining to the saidcrane is driven by a small engine, 0, attached to theboiler of thelocomotive, from which the necessary steam is derived. When thelocomotive is especially constructed for this work it may be so arrangedthat the engine for propelling the locomotive can also be applied to thecrane, as in the case of steamcranes.

In the drawing I have shown only two cars or trucks, 1 and 2, but inpractice I find it advantageous to use several. The first trucks in thetrain, as shown in the drawing truck No. 1, are or is loaded withordinary railway ties or sleepers, and truck No. 2 or the hind-truck,according to the length of the train, I load with rails. 011 each sideof the trucks and engine is ranged a number of friction-rollers, D, theuse for which I will describe further on.

For the first few yards at the commencement of the road, where thesupplies are at hand, the track may be laid in the usual manner; butfrom that point, where it is necesssary to use a conveyance fordistributing the ties, &c., my system comes into use, and I proceed tolay my temporary track, as before described, without grading or preparin g the road any more than leveling it sufficiently to carry the trackand support the constructiontrain. Having arranged and loaded thetrucks, as before described, I run the train upon the temporary trackand proceed to distribute the ties and rails in the following manner:The ties are slipped upon the friction-rollers D on both sides of thetrucks, and are brought forward on the rollers by the laborers till theyarrive within reach of the crane B, when they are attached to the chainsof the same and lowered upon the ground. The rails are operated upon inthe same manner, and both are distributed as required till the enginearrives at the end of the track. VVheu all the ties and rails upon thetrain are distributed in this manner the empty train is run back to thepoint of starting an d a fresh supply is obtain ed, which is thenbrought to the front, and the operation goes on as before, the traingoing so much further every time. The masonry,wood, &c., for thebridges, the ballast for the roadway, and, in fact,everything requiredis thus brought forward by the construction-train. In the meanwhile agang of regular track-layers follows the construc tion-train andreplaces thetemporary ties by ordinary permanent ones, spiking them inthe usual manner. The temporary ties are taken up, sent forward upon thetrain, and relaid, as in the first instance.

In Fig. 3 I show a way in which I sometimes prepare the ordinary ties inorder to obviate the necessity for the temporary ties shown in Fig. 2.At the proper gauge I drive in (sufficiently far to prevent them fallingout) four rail-spikes, d, so that with a little manipulation the railcan be slipped between them, as may be seen by their position. Theseties are put upon the construc tion-train and brought forward in thesame manner as those described in the first instance, and the temporarytrack can also be constructed by them; but instead of securing the endsof the rails together by fish-plates or chairs they are held as shown inFig. 4:, the small bar of iron 6 overlapping the joint so that a spike,f, on each side of the rail is sufficient to secure them. Of course,when the track is laid in this manner it is not necessary to take it up,as in the case of the temporary track first described, but it ispermanently fixed by the track-layers as the gang proceeds.

Fig. 5 is a profile of the road, the dotted line representing the level.In laying the temporary track for carrying the construction-train, whenthe road is uneven, as represented, I follow the undulations of theground, keepingthe temporary track just clear of the portion of the roadupon which the track is to be permanently fixed, so that the temporarytrack can be utilized for the purpose of carrying muck-trucks fordistributing the earth and leveling the permanent way. Of course, ingoing up and down the hillocks the temporary track is laid zigzag, asshown in plan of Fig. 5, the dotted lines in said figure representingthe line of the permanent track. It will thus be seen that no delay iscaused to the general progress of the road, as the temporary track can,in this manner, be run over the heaviest cutting, assisting the removalof 'itfand, at the same time, the track being extended, theconstructiontrain proceeds as before described. Several such trains maybe put on if the road is required to be built with great rapidity.

Having now described my invention and the manner of manipulating thesame, I beg to say, in conclusion, that I do not claim, by itself, anypart of the combination hereinbefore described; but

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

The combination of a double crane, B, engine (3, and rollers D, inconjunction with a 10001110- tive an d cars, for the purpose ofbuilding, economically and expeditiously, railroad tracks, substantiallyas and for the purpose specified.

City of Toronto, July 24, 1871.

HUGH BAINES.

. Witnesses:

EDWARD W. FARRELL, CLAUD S. (JAYLEY.

